


I Sunk Your Battleship (And I'd Do It Again)

by amidtheflowers



Series: Darcyland April Fools Challenge [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: April Fools Fic, F/M, Fluff, so much misunderstanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 07:08:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10566192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amidtheflowers/pseuds/amidtheflowers
Summary: Bucky thinks he's got this. He's so got this. Darcy? Totally going to happen. What he didn't expect was completely misreading what she meant by playing a certain board game, and now he thinks maybe a few more years of cryo will erase the embarrassment he's feeling right now.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! 
> 
> This is late. I know, and I'm terrible. Things got hectic with real life stuff and I had to delay posting this. Tomorrow however, I'm hoping to put out two fics to catch up with the days of the challenge. I hope you like this one! 
> 
> This is Day 6: **Some Kind of Glorious Misunderstanding**.
> 
> Enjoy! xx

 

“You seeing Lewis again today?” Steve watched Bucky from his spot on perched on the upholstered bench in front of Bucky’s bed, arms crossed over his chest.

“Yep. Five o’clock like always,” Bucky licked his thumbs and smoothed them over his eyebrows, peering at himself as he stood in front of his dresser.

“You gonna man up today and ask her out?”

Bucky gave Steve a dark look through the mirror. “Don’t remember making you my dating keeper.”

“And I don’t want to be,” Steve scoffed. “It’s just getting real old watching the two of you make moon eyes at each other all over the compound. Even Nat’s brought it up.”

Bucky paused at the mention of Natasha’s name, narrowing his eyes at Steve. “There’s a betting pool isn’t there.” Steve coughed, looking away, and Bucky turned around to glare at him. “There is, you punk. Guessing today is your bet day?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Steve said in his best I’m-totally-innocent voice, giving those wide eyes that were a dead giveaway that he was lying.

 “Keep telling yourself that,” Bucky rolled his eyes before turning back to the mirror, staring back at his reflection with rising trepidation. Steve was right. It’d been stretched too long. Darcy….god, she was amazing. Everything he didn’t know he needed, but couldn’t imagine a day without now. They’d been skirting around this for four wonderful, agonizing months, and Bucky knew that needed to change. As soon as possible.

Some time like today.

But the longer he stared at himself, the less sure he was becoming. It’d been a long time since he asked someone out. Very long. Bucky sighed quietly. “I’m gonna screw this up, Steve.”

Steve’s smile slipped, and suddenly he was standing next to Bucky and clapping him on the shoulder. “You’re not going to screw anything up. She _likes_ you Bucky. A whole damn lot. Just let it happen.”

“Let it happen. Okay.” Bucky nodded, taking a shaky breath. He glanced up at Steve. “I’ll see you later tonight, then.”

Steve smirked, “It might be better if you don’t.”

Bucky glanced at Steve wryly. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious. It might happen, you should—”

Bucky groaned loudly, moving away from Steve and covering his ears. “Oh my god, this is not happening. This is a nightmare. You are _not_ just trying to give me a sex talk. _I’m a hundred years old, Steve._ ”

“You’ve been gone for a while, Buck. Things are different now,” Steve frowned defensively.

“I’m pretty sure the name of the game is still the same. Part A goes into Part B. Fun is had. And that’s not happening today, not a chance.”

“Not—not that, obviously. The culture around sex is different now. More upfront. Ask you to go to their room for coffee or something. It’s…different. Just—just remember that, okay? You say it won’t happen, but it might happen.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Johnny Cubscout. We done here?”

“Yeah, we’re done,” Steve sighed.

-

-

She was waiting by the elevator when he saw her. At the sight of Bucky, Darcy’s entire face transformed into one of delight, eyes sparkling and meeting him halfway to link their arms together. Bucky felt lighter than air, his heart swelling two sizes over as he started grinning.

“Look at you, all dapper and shit,” Darcy ran a hand up and down his arm appreciatively.

“Sweaters are dapper?”

“Fluffy ones are,” Darcy said firmly. “You know, the type of sweater that looks so snuggly and comfortable you get this overwhelming urge to hug the crap out of whoever’s wearing it? That’s what you look like right now.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow, gazing down at her as he licked his lips contemplatively. “Well doll, I can’t help but notice a severe lack of full-body, intensive hugging. I’m hurt.”

Darcy looked up at Bucky with innocent surprise. “Oh _man_ , my mistake. I’ll make sure this kind of mix-up never happens again.”

“It happens to the best of us,” Bucky sighed, and a tiny smile tugged at his lips when Darcy let go of him to wrap her arms around his shoulders and hug him tightly. Bucky huffed when she leaned into him with enough force to make him stagger back a step, arms coming up to wrap tightly around her waist.

For a moment everything else faded into the background, leaving only Darcy and Bucky. They melted into each other, breathing each other in, holding on for a prolonged moment. She felt divine, an overwhelming feeling filling his chest until all he could think of was how good Darcy fit in his arms, how much he liked the shape of her against his body. When Bucky pulled away, enough to see her face, Darcy slowly opened her eyes and beamed up at him. It was time.

“So I wanted to run something by you,” Bucky said.

“Shoot,” Darcy clasped her hands around his neck, neither of them letting the other go just yet.

“I was thinking, you and me? We’re good. Good together.”

“Mmm, so good. What else?”

She was smiling. It eased the nerves in his stomach, his body moving on its own volition as he tightened his grip around her waist so they were pressed closer together. “Well,” Bucky continued. “We shouldn’t let that go to waste. Would be a shame to let something like that go.”

“Sooo what, you wanna lasso us together? I have rope, but it’s usually for slightly different reasons.”

“You’re a goddamn smartass, Lewis.” Darcy snorted, and Bucky leaned in to press his forehead against hers. “I’m asking you to be my girl,” he said quietly.

A dizzying smile spread on Darcy’s lips. “Your girl, huh?”

“If that’s something you want.” Bucky swallowed, meeting Darcy’s eyes hesitantly.

She stared at him for a long moment. Then, without another word, Darcy leaned up and gently pressed her lips against Bucky’s. Relief flowed through him like a slow wave, spreading through his body and spurring him on to press more firmly against her mouth, fingers tightening on her back. She pulled back a tiny bit, eyes flicking up to meet his with a wry smile, before leaning back in to plant two more small kisses on his lips.

“That answer enough for you?” Darcy asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. Jesus.” Bucky couldn’t help but smile when Darcy laughed, and she pressed her forehead shyly into his shoulder. Another moment that warmed Bucky’s inside like goddamn Christmas morning, ingraining it into his memory.

“We should probably go now,” Darcy muffled into his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed. Suddenly, he remember his conversation earlier and chuckled. “Steve’s gonna be real happy.”

“Why?”

“There’s a betting pool on when we’d start dating. Steve bet on today.”

Darcy’s eyes widened. “There’s a _betting_ pool? What the hell, man? What ever happened to the sanctity of privacy? More importantly, why didn’t anyone tell us so we could be in on it?”

“They’re all nosy macguffins, that’s why. We’ll get ‘em back, though.”

Darcy smiled up at him, her gaze turning thoughtful. “Hey. So you know how we had a whole thing planned of food and game night? Why don’t we do that at my place?”

Bucky tilted his head. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Darcy shrugged casually. “It’ll be more fun with just the two of us. Plus, I have Battleship and Twister. And coffee. I can finally make that premium roast blend we’ve been talking about. Unless,” Darcy smiled slyly, “you’re too afraid to go one-on-one with me in Battleship. I’ve been known to take names. Tony’s cried.”

“Yeah, I’m just quaking in my boots.”

“Um, you _should_ be. I won’t go easy on you.”

“Never asked you to, Darce. I just don’t think you realize but I’m a vet. Battleship doesn’t come close to what I’ve done,” Bucky said lightly, slinging his arm around hers as he steered them back to the elevator.

“Please, you were a sniper and assassin. Totally different fields from battleshipping. Like me with poli-sci and astrophysics. What I’m saying is, get ready to be fucked.”

Bucky snorted as they walked into Darcy’s apartment. “Make yourself at home,” she told him, unwrapping her scarf and laying it over the back of her couch. “I’m gonna go get the game, and put on a pot of coffee. You just sit here and look pretty.”

“Will do,” Buck said, watching Darcy go with a small smile.

Darcy glanced back at him and pointed at his face. “You’re gonna feel the heat, Bucko. Go hard or go home!” With that, she disappeared into her bedroom.

Bucky sat there on Darcy’s sofa, grinning like an idiot. He could not have had better luck. The universe was on his side today—for once in his life. It had been easier than he remembered, asking Darcy to be his girl. Natural, even.

Steve was gonna be thrilled. Probably earned a whole twenty bucks today. Bucky smiled a bit. Steve being there while Bucky was getting ready to see Darcy had been a good thing. It helped. Though not so much the sex stuff. The level of absurdity…

Bucky paused.

Wait…

It was as if waking from a fog. Bucky looked, really _looked_ where he was. No. What Steve had said…no, right? This wasn’t…not like that.

But it was all lining up too perfectly. Darcy asking him to her apartment. Offering coffee. Wanting to play a game with him, alone, which Tony had once called ‘the universal code for sex’ on many a late night bar session.

“If there’s a girl ever with you, and she wants to play…” Tony had gestured wildly, “chess with you at her place? There’s no chessboard. There’s no chess.”

“That sounds pretty presumptuous. And frankly, plain stupid,” Bucky had retorted before downing his drink.

Tony had only laughed. “You’ll see, Barnes. It’ll happen to you and then you’ll see. There’s never any chess.”

Bucky swallowed hard. He would’ve still dismissed it, but Darcy’s own words were reverberating in his mind. _What I’m saying is, get ready to be fucked_. _Go hard. Feel the heat_.

Oh, fuck him. Steve was right. He was fucking _old_. Were these things the indicators for this sex? The longer Bucky thought about it, the more convinced he became that he’d entirely misinterpreted Darcy’s intention of going back to her place.

“Jesus,” Bucky jumped to his feet and stared wildly around her apartment, then to the direction of her bedroom where she currently was. God, was she waiting for him? Waiting and getting impatient? Bucky was panicking. He—he needed to do something. He was in. _So_ in. His girl wants to do it now? Hell to the fucking yes he would do it. He wanted it, thought of it often. Darcy above him, Darcy beneath him, he’d thought it all, but never thought it’d happen this fast.

 _Is four months really that fast?_ A small voice in his head reminded. And really, Bucky had to agree.

Licking his lips, Bucky decided it was time. He was gonna—gonna go in there. But not without some prep first.

Silently, Bucky threw off the sweater and folded it over the back of the couch. With equal care Bucky unbuckled his belt and slid off his jeans, and neatly draped that over the sofa too. His socks were next. Undershirt. Watch. All off, leaving him in his boxers, and ready for Darcy—no, Bucky thought suddenly. She’d made the rule clear. He had to sit here and look pretty until she came back—presumably having gotten freshened up herself.

“I found Battleship! It was stuck underraaaAAAH.” Darcy jolted when she saw Bucky, stripped down to his boxers. “Uh. Whatcha doing there, Bucky?”

Bucky whirled around and saw Darcy staring at him, eyes wide and one hand holding a rectangular box, with the word _Battleship_ printed clearly on the front.

“You…actually have Battleship.” He said slowly. Bucky closed his eyes. Well, it was nice seeing the twenty-first century. Now it was time to die.

“Yeah. Oh god. You thought this was something else.”

Bucky stared at the ceiling and wished for nothing more than to fizzle out of existence immediately. Like evaporation. Or sublimation. “Yeah. I’m—Jesus, I’m so sorry, Darce. All this shit was in my head of what other people said this was and. You know what? That ain’t an excuse. I’m gonna go now.” Bucky grabbed his clothes and made towards the door, but a hand wrapping around his wrist stopped him.

“What, you’re just gonna walk out? Not even ask me what I feel about this?”

Bucky shook his head. “Don’t need to. Mortified enough for the both of us.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t have gone about it this way, and I _did_ mean to play Battleship…” Darcy shrugged, peering up at him. “But this would be fun too.”

Bucky stared at Darcy. Stared. He couldn’t have heard that right. “Are you…did I hear that right? Please tell me I heard that right.”

Darcy bit her lip, holding back a smile. “You heard right.” She shrugged again, not meeting his eyes. “If you want. We’re together and stuff. Steve won a bet and everything, didn’t he?”

“He did,” Bucky murmured. Slowly setting his clothes back on the sofa, Bucky stepped closer to Darcy. “We don’t have to. I didn’t come up here expecting sex. I just…thought too deep into everything. Got stuff mixed up.”

“I know. But if we weigh it on a scale,” Darcy held the board game in one hand, tipping it low, “do we play Battleship for a few minutes, or,” Darcy tipped her empty hand upwards, “do we spend several glorious hours having a _lot_ of fun, doing something we’ve both been wanting for a while now? I dunno, Bucky, seems like a pretty obvious choice to me.”

“I ever tell you you got a mouth on you?”

“More than once, yes.”

“Hm. How about you’re beautiful, and absolutely amazing? I think it’s important for you to know that.” Bucky slid his arms around Darcy, tugging her close so she was pressed flushed against him.

“Mmm yes, but you could do with telling me again.”

“Well let me get started on that, then…might take all night....”

Darcy squealed when Bucky lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom, shutting the door with his foot and dropping her onto the bed. It didn’t take long for their laughter to blend into blissful sighs.

**Author's Note:**

> You can blame the Battleship Trope for this fic, thanks to 30 Going On 30 and HIMYM.


End file.
